Here are all the SEC assistants who made more than $1 million in 2017

Having a top head coach is great, but increasingly in college football, having innovative coordinators is just as important.

Therefore, as coordinators become hotter commodities, salaries for the top offensive and defensive minds in the country are on the rise.

On Wednesday, USA TODAY published its annual roundup of assistant coach salaries, and it should come as no surprise that the SEC had the most assistants making at least $1 million. As you can see below, nine different assistants in the conference made at least nine-figure salaries this past season:

LSU DC Dave Aranda — $1,800,000

Texas A&M DC John Chavis — $1,608,000

LSU OC Matt Canada — $1,505,000

Alabama DC Jeremy Pruitt — $1,300,000

Auburn DC Kevin Steele — $1,200,000

Alabama OC Brian Daboll — $1,200,000

Tennessee DC Bob Shoop — $1,155,000

Florida OC Doug Nussmeier — $1,144,225

Ole Miss DC Wesley McGriff — $1,000,000

With some of those coordinators not being retained by new coaching staffs, it’ll be interesting to see which new coordinators make the list in 2018.

It’s safe to say there will be some new names making nine-figure salaries in the SEC in 2018.

A 2012 graduate of the University of Missouri, Adam now covers all 14 SEC football teams.

I’m in the wrong line of work if a man who leads a 125th ranked defense gets paid a million bucks. I’m know my place in this world and know I have no business telling a man how to do his job but I seriously think I could lead a better defense than McGriff. Seriously, the talent was there and he still didn’t know how to use it effectively. I understand this past season was his first season and it takes time to create something, but damn. I’d like to expect him to cut that rank in half by next year but with these sanctions and players transferring out, I think our defense is going to be just as atrocious next year. Either way, $1,000,000? Geeeez